Türk-Yunan İlişkileri Kapsamında Kıta Sahanlığı Uyuşmazlığının Çözüm Yeri Birleşmiş Milletler Uluslararası Adalet Divanı Olabilir mi?

Abstract

The issue of the continental shelf delimitation on the Aegean Sea is one of the disputes pending between Turkey and Greece. This problem, which has gained visibility especially since the 70s, has become a purely political and diplomatic problem with the 1978 decision of the International Court of Justice, following the unilateral application of Greece. On the other hand, it is seen that many states have similar limitation problems and try to resolve them through the Court or different international judicial bodies. As a result, a serious accumulation of jurisprudence (case-law) has emerged on the issue of the delimitation of maritime areas by the judicial bodies. The predominant principle in the law of delimitation of maritime areas is that the delimitation should be done in a way that provides an equitable solution. This idea was also included in the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. In this respect, since it would not be fair to make a delimitation based on an equidistance line to be drawn between the easternmost Greek islands and the Turkish mainland, it can be expected that a decision in this direction will not be made by the judicial organs. On the other hand, the view put forth by this study is that although it is thought that the decision of the Court may bring a result in favor of the Turkish theses in the light of case law, it should be known that once this decision is made, there will be no turning back and that the efforts to resolve this conflict through diplomacy and agreement which is the primary procedure in the 1982 Convention, should continue.

Evaluation of Greece’s unlawful actions against the aegean islands

“…However, some islands were not taken into account in the said arbitration decision on the grounds of fairness ("Eritrea/Yemen -Sovereignty"). In the Guinea/Guinea-Bissau Arbitration dated 1985, the issue of natural extension was especially emphasized in order to reach an equitable solution, and the middle line principle was pushed into the background by the numerous islands in front of the coast (Erkiner andBüyük, 2021, p.1028).…”